[Dixielandjazz] New Second Line

[Bill Haesler]

David Washburn asked:
> Does anybody out there happen to know when Avery wrote New Second Line, also known as Joe Avery's Piece?    According to the Firehouse book he was born in 1892 so I'm assuming he wrote the tune in the teens or twenties.

Dear Dave (and Bruce Stangeland who gave the date at 1915),
In the third, revised and enlarged edition (1984) of the 1967 book 'New Orleans Jazz' by Al Rose and Edmond Souchon [I have both] the expanded biography confirms the birth date as Oct. 3, 1892 and that trombonist Joseph 'Kid' Avery was in the Tulane Orchestra between 1915 and 1922 - and  adds the following details regarding the tune:

"The ancient riff melody that blues musicians knew as "Holler Blues" he made his own; it became widely, if inaccurately known as "Joe Avery's Tune" and is now performed by contemporary brass bands under the title of "The Second Line" (not to be confused with Paul Barbarin's excellent march)."

The Barbarin tune was first recorded by him in December 1954.

A Japanese source, 'New Orleans Renaissance on Record' (1980. Compiled by Teizo Ikegami) indicates that the tune was recorded (under various titles) chronologically as follows:

Holler Blues			Ray Burke's Speakeasy Boys	May 1949	(with Joe Avery in the band)
Holler Blues			Wooden Joe's Band			July 1949
Holler Blues			Barnes-Bocage Big Five		Sept 1954
Emanuel Paul's Blues		Kid Thomas' Band			Oct 1957
Joe Avery's Piece		Young Tuxedo Brass Band		Nov 1958
Joe Avery's Blues		Eureka Brass Band 			July 1962	
The Victory Walk		Kid Thomas with Easy Riders	1963
The Victory Bounce		Kid Thomas' Band			Aug 1963
The Victory Bounce		The Mighty Four (Dejan)		Nov 1963
The Victory Walk		Kid Thomas with Berry Martyn's Band	June 1964
The Victory Walk		New Orleans Rascals			Mar 1968	
Joe Avery's Blues		Handy with Kid Sheik's Band	Mar 1968
New Second Line.		Dejan's Olympia Brass Band	Nov 1972
Dejan's Olympia Brass Band recorded  a "Second Line" at various times (1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972).
As I do not have any of these, I cannot confirm whether they are the same as The Mighty Four's "Victory Bounce" above or the 1954 Paul Barbarin tune.
However, in the notes to the Mosaic CD set 'The Atlantic New Orleans Jazz Sessions', Bruce Boyd Raeburn wrote "Along with Casimar and sousaphonist Wilbert Tillman, trombonist Joe Avery, was a founding member of the Young Tuxedo. Avery died three years before this recording, but his presence is felt with the inclusion of "Joe Avery's Piece", a song which has become a perennial Carnival favourite under the generic title "Second Line" - revelers have made a manta of the stop chorus, shouting it in unison as they move in droves through the French Quarter.

From this I would assume that "Joe Avery's Piece/Blues" = "Second Line" by the Dejan bands and not the Barbarin tune.
I also suspect that "Joe Avery's Tune/Blues" dates from no earlier than the 1940s.

Holler Blues by the Phoenix Jazz Band (UK) in 1954:
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxhnFF8RXnQ
Joe Avery's Piece by Big Bissonette's New Orleans Jazz Band in 1969:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q-iyaxfrBA

There is also a Oscar Papa Celestin "Victory Walk"(AMCD 128) recorded in April 1954.
Very kind regards,
Bill.